Life saving device



April 24, 1956 v. H. HURT 2,742,654

LIFE SAVING DEVICE Filed Feb. 9, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4M4 emmlluwATTORNEY A ril 24, 1956 v. H. HURT 2,742,654

LIFE SAVING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 9, 1953 INVENTOR. V/d/d/P6. /////?7' ATTORNEY United States Patent LIFE SAVING DEVICE Victor H.Hurt, Cranston, R. I., assignor to United States Rubber Company, NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 9, 1953,Serial No. 335,853

5 Claims. (Cl. 9-17) This invention relates to an inflatable life savingdevice designed to keep a person afloat in water, and more part'icularlyto such a device employing two or more inflatable bladders for buoyantlysupporting a person, and having a relatively flat, speciallyconstructed, tube connection between the bladders so that the inflatinggas can pass back and forth between the bladders.

Life saving garments such as jackets and vests have been providedheretofore with two or more buoyant bladders connected by a tube, butthe connecting tube has presented difficulties for if it is made highlyflexible the walls thereof may be pressed together and choke off thepassage of the gas therethrough, and if the tube is-made relativelystiff so that the walls will not collapse even if the tube is bent, thenthe stiffness of this tube may interfere seriously with the comfort ofthe person wearing thelife saving garment. Furthermore it is diflicul'tto attachthe ends of such tube to inflatable bladders so that danger ofleakage does not exist.

Having in mind the foregoing, the present invention contemplates a lifesaving device comprising two inflatable bladders disposed a substantialdistance apart for use indifferent portions of a life saving garment,and which bladders are connected by a relatively flat flexible tube thewalls of which are prevented from contacting each other and choking offthe passage of a gas therethrough by providing in such tube a porousfabric strip that will holdthe walls apart even if the tube is bent at apronounced angle, to thereby permit the inflating gas to flow back andforth between the bladders.

The life saving device of the present invention was designed primarilyto form a satisfactory tubular connection between an inflatable bladderdesigned to be worn in the front portion of a lifesaving garment, and asecond bladder designed to encircle the neck of the wearer so asto keephis head out of thewater. structi'on the tube connecting these bladdersis disposed below the chin of the wearer of the garment, where it wouldbe very uncomfortable if formed of a relatively stiffhose. Therefore thepresent invention contemplates a construction whereby this connectiontube between the bladders is given the form of a relativelyflat flexibletube that is so constructed that it cannot be pinched in use in such amanner as to choke off the passage of an inflati'nggas therethrough.

The above and other features of the present invention will be furtherunderstood from the following, description when read in connection withthe accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a front view of the upper portion of aman wearing a lifesaving vest, equipped with the inflatable bladders that are connected ascontemplated by the present invention.

Fig. 2. on a longer scale is a vertical sectional view through the neckencircling bladder and aside view of the bladder which is disposed overthe chest of the wear Fig. 3 isa: vertical sectional view through thealigned bladders and connecting tube.

Insuch a conice The life saving device contemplated by the presentinvention was developed primarily for use in a life saving garment ofthe type worn by military air pilots when flying at sea, so that if theyare forced down in the water they can quickly inflate the bladders tokeep themafloat. Such bladders should be carefully constructed so thatthey are not likely to leak since a human life may depend upon theirbuoyancy. In order to guard against the danger of a bladder becomingpunctured and deflated, each bladder is preferably provided with twoseparate non-communicating chambers formed by providing. a centralpartition extending lengthwise of the bladder.

The life saving device of the present invention as shown in Fig. lisworn in adouble breasted vest indicated in its entirety by the letter V.This double breasted vest has the inner front portion 10 which extendsacross the chest and has sewed to the outer face thereof. the pocket 11adaptedtotreceive the lower inflatable blade der 12. The outer frontportion 13 of the vest overlies the under portion 10: as shown, and thevest is fastened about the body of the wearer by engaging theouter-snap; fasteners 14 with the inner snap fasteners. 15, or byemploying other well known fastening means.

The upper bladder 16 designed to encircle the neck of the wearer of thelife saving garment is. adapted to be housed in a fabric casing 17.,which isv best shown in; Figs. 1 and 4; This. casing iss'ewed. to thevest-,V at the top of the shoulder of the vest. The bladder enclosing.casing 17 is: preferably given the C-shape construction shown in. Fig. 4and this casing. is secured in encircling'relation about the neck of thewearer by engaging: the top snapv fasteners 18. with: the underlyingsnap fasteners 19, as will be apparent from; Fig. 4. This fabricv casingmaybe formed by sewing, to a C-shaped. top fabric 20 and 0-. shapedbottom fabric 2-1, the vertically disposed outer fabric wall 22andvertically disposed inner fabric wall 23. The outer fabric 22 hasformed inthe front portion thereof, as shownin Fig. I a large buttonhole24 through which the top-b1adder'16 and flexible tube 5Z5 that connectsthe upper bladder 16 tothe lower bladder 12" may pass. The. arrangementis such that when the bladders are deflated theflupper bladder 16 may bepushed through this buttonhole 24 and then worked around inside of theG-shaped fabric housing 17 to lie. therein as shown in Fig. 4.

The upper and lower bladders and flexible connecting tube are preferablyformed of integral rubber sheets in a manner tobe described to reducethe danger of leak age, and the. lower bladder 12, upper bladder 16 andconnecting tube 25 are preferably divided longitudinally by a centralpartition, so that. if one chamber of either bladder should be puncturedthe other chamber will remain inflated to. supply the buoyancy requiredto keep the. wearer of the life saving garment afloat. A simple andpractical manner of constructing the parts just mentioned is wellillustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing, wherein there is shown a centralsheet. or partition, which as one continuous sheet forms a centralpartition 26 for the upper bladder 16, partition 27 for the lowerbladder 12, and a partition 28 for the connecting tube 25. To themarginal edge. portion of the lower partition 27 is secured one outerwall 29 of the lower bladder 12, this is accomplished by bending theouter marginal edges of the wall 29 around the partition 27 and bondingthese. edges to the partition as indicated by 30. One outer wall. 31 ofthe upper bladder 16 is similarly secured to the partition 26 asindicated at 32. The other outer wall 33 of the lower bladder 12 issecured in overlapping relation about the wall 29 as indicated by 34,and the second other outer wall 35 of the bladder 16 is similarlysecured to the wall 31 as indicated at 36. The outer walls 29 and 31 areconnected by an integral neck 37, and the outer walls 33 and 35 areconnected by an integral neck 38. The side marginal edges of these neckportions are folded one over the other as indicated by 39 in Fig. toform an air tight tube.

In order to prevent the flat tubular connection from being pinched sothat the walls contact and shut off the flow of air or gas therethrough,an air pervious strip 40 is adhesively secured in this tube at one sideof the partition 28, and a similar fabric 40 is secured in this tube atthe other side of the partition 28 as shown in Fig. 5. The fabric strip40 may be variously constructed but in order to provide the desiredporosity it is preferably formed as a two-ply pile fabric having pileconnecting yarns extending between the top and bottom fabric in a wellknown manner; This will serve to hold the side walls of the tube out ofcontact with each other and permit inflating air or gas to passlongitudinally through these fabric strips, as will be apparent fromFig. 5. Furthermore if the fabric faces of the two-ply pile fabric 40are adhered to the adjacent walls 28, 37 or 28, 38 this will limit theamount these walls can separate when the tube is inflated.

Each chamber of the lower bladder 12 has leading therefrom an inflatingtube 42 provided for oral inflation of the connected bladder chamberslying to one side of the central partition, and each tube has secured toits outer end a mouthpiece 43 which contains a one way valve. These oralinflating tubes 42 are provided so that a person wearing the vest whenfloating in water may blow air into either charnber to increase thepressure therein. In order to inflate quickly all chambers of the lifesaving device, each chamber of the bladder 12 preferably has connectedthereto by means of a pipe 44 a quick inflating device, not shown, butof well known construction such for example as a C02 holder.

The life saving garment shown in the drawing is normally worn with thebladders 12 and 17 uninflated, so that they will take up a minimumamount of space and will not interfere unduly with the freedom ofmovement of the aviator Wearing the suit. Since the connecting tube 25is positioned below the chin of the wearer of.

the garment; as shown in Fig. 1, it is important that this tube behighly flexible so that it will not interfere unduly with the movementof the wearers head. When this life saving garment is being worn and thebladders are in flated the tube 25 is bent at substantially a rightangle as will be apparent from Fig. 2, but the strips of air perviousfabrics 40 in this tube will hold the walls of the tube spaced apart sothat the inflating gas can pass freely from one bladder to the other toequalize the pressure in the bladders. The inflating tube, as abovestated, is formed integrally with the bladders 12 and 16 to make thepresent construction highly leak proof, and this tube has the wall thatlies next to the wearer made flatter than the other wall as shown inFig. 5.

While it is preferred to employ the pervious fabrics 40 to hold the tubewalls out of contact with each other, other forms of spacing means suchas ribs extending longitudinally within each tube, or spaced nodulesformed on an inner wall of each tube may be employed.

'The inflating device of the present invention may be formed of rubberor of plastic material such as vinyl resin. When made of rubber theunvulcanized rubber sheets are secured together as shown in Figs. 3 and6, and the device is then vulcanized. The construction shown anddcscribedwhile simple, is strong and durable and should give goodservice and the provision whereby a fiat connected tube can be usedbetween the bladders without danger of the same being pinched to such anextent as to stop the flow of gas therethrough is very important.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent is:

l. A life saving device, comprising two inflatable bladders disposed asubstantial distance apart to buoyantly support a person in water andeach bladder being separated by a longitudinal partition into twonon-communicating chambers, a relatively flat flexible tube connectingsaid bladders and divided longitudinally so that one longitudinalpassage of the tube connects one chamber of one bladder with a chamberof the other bladder and the other longitudinal passage connects theremaining chambers, and a porous fabric strip secured in each tubepassage to hold such passages open so that an inflating gas can flowback and forth through each passage between the respective chambers theyconnect.

2. A life saving device, comprising an inflatable bladder shaped toencircle a persons neck, a second bladder shaped to cover a personschest and having means for securing it in place over his chest, arelatively flat flexible tube connecting said bladders and adapted tobend at approximately a right angle between the bladders, and a porousfabric strip secured in said tube throughout its length to hold the tubewalls from contacting each other in the bent portion thereof so that aninflating gas can flow between the bladders.

3. A life saving device, comprising an inflatable bladder shaped toencircle a persons neck, a second bladder shaped to cover a personschest and having means for securing it in place over his chest, aflexible tube connecting said bladders and integral therewith, a centralpartition extending longitudinally of both bladders and of said tube toform two non-communicating chambers in each bladder and two longitudinalpassages through the tube, and a porous fabric strip in each passage tohold the passages open so that an inflating gas can flow between thebladder chambers connected by said passages.

4. A life saving device, comprising two inflatable bladders connected bya relatively small tube and formed of a central partition sheetextending longitudinally of the two bladders and of said tube and havingsecured over each face thereon an integral outer sheet so that these twoouter sheets form both bladders and the tube, each bladder being dividedby said partition into two non-communicating chambers, and a porousfabric strip secured in the tube at each side of the partition to holdthe walls apart so that an inflating gas can flow from the chamber ofone bladder to a chamber of the other bladder.

5. A life saving device, comprising an inflatable bladder shaped toencircle a persons neck, a second bladder integral with said neckencircling bladder and shaped to cover a persons chest, means forsecuring said second bladder in place over a persons chest, a relativelysmall flexible tube connecting said bladders and integral there with, acentral partition extending longitudinally of both bladders and of saidtube to form two non-communicating chambers in each bladder and twonon-communicating longitudinal passages through the tube, and spacingmeans secured to an inner wall of said tube to hold the tube walls apartso that an inflating gas can flow back and forth in the tube between thebladders.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS728,745 Morrison May 19, 1903 790,971 Nichols May 30, 1905 1,401,677Dade Dec. 27, 1921 1,481,144 Pastor Jan. 15, 1924 1,812,936 De FaveriJuly 7, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 324,076 Great Britain Jan. 17, 1930 592,457Great Britain Sept. 18, 1947

